John Thompson used to be a friend of Robert Pondiscio, who is now a vice-president at the rightwing Thomas B. Fordham Institute. A decade ago, Robert was a good friend of mine; he was one of the early readers of Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education . At the time (2010), Robert and I agreed on the importance of public schools and the
Jan Resegger summarizes the disastrous Ohio plan to expand vouchers and how grossly unfair it is to public schools, which enroll nearly 90% of the children in the state. As she points out, most of the children drawing money away from her district never attended public schools, yet now their tuition will be extracted from the budget of the public schools. Read her post in its entirety. She writes:
Teresa Hanafin writes the daily “Fast Forward” for the Boston Globe. She writes: It’s the last day for House Democrats to argue why senators should find Trump guilty and remove him from office. Yesterday they focused on the first article of impeachment, abuse of power; today they tackle the second, obstruction of Congress. In making the case yesterday that Trump abused the power of his office, on
Politico Morning Education reports on Betsy DeVos’ attack on “choice.” She was talking about slavery, not schools. Ironic. She’s wrong about both. She has a gift for bad analogies, like comparing schools to Uber and taxis or food stands outside the ED building. HOW DEVOS USED THE ABORTION, SLAVERY ANALOGY: DeVos, a Christian conservative, was talking about the Trump administration’s record of opp
Ah, sad for the Sacklers! Having become multi-billionaires by manufacturing, marketing and selling opioids, they can’t find peace. Major institutions are refusing their donations, some are taking their names off buildings they endowed, states are trying to claw back their fortune. One branch of the family sold its NYC mansion for $38 million and left for Gstaad in Switzerland , future unannounced
Garrison Keillor writes today in his online “A Writer’s Almanac”: It’s the birthday of novelist Edith Wharton ( books by this author ), born Edith Newbold Jones in New York City (1862). She grew up in a rich, socially prominent family with old money — the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses” is said to be a reference to them. In a family of beautiful women, she was not a beautiful girl, often tea
Peter Greene writes here about the possibility that legislators might attempt to limit the damage done by the cyber charter industry, which is protected by armor of cash and campaign contributions. Numerous studies, including one by the charter-friendly CREDO of Stanford, have found that students in cyber charters don’t learn much. Some studies have shown that cyber charters don’t learn anything.
Oklahoma is famous for underfunding it’s schools. The legislature is under the thumb of the oil and gas and fracking industry, which wants low taxes and no regulations. Teachers revolted and went on strike in 2018 but the legislature continues to starve its schools, opting to satisfy its funders and forget about its children and its future. The superintendent of Tulsa, Deborah Gist, is a Broadie
Indiana blogger Steve Hinnefeld reports here that a Democratic legislator has proposed a bill that prevents voucher schools from discriminating against students, staff, or families based on their religion, race, sexual orientation, or disability. Bill Phillis of Ohio has proposed that religious schools that get vouchers should be subject to the same laws and regulations as public schools and shou
Vicki Cobb is an award-winning author of more than 90 children’s books, mostly about science. In this post, she reviews SLAYING GOLIATH. The review begins like this: For the past 25 years there has been a national war between so-called education reformers and public schools. Education historian and indefatigable blogger on the topic, Diane Ravitch, has been chronicling the attacks, losses and now
Wendy Lecker is a civil rights lawyer who writes frequently for the Stamford (Connecticut) Advocate and is a regular contributor to the Hearst Connecticut Media Group. Recently she wrote about Yale’s agreement to adopt Eli Broad’s school-wrecking “Broad Institute” in return for a donation of $100 million. The Broad Institute is a vanity project by a billionaire who readily admits he knows nothing
In the Public Interest is one of those rare organizations that is what it says : it identifies efforts to privatize the public sector and exposes them. To be a healthy society, we need a vibrant private sector and a healthy vibrant public sector. For years, we’ve heard the same false claims behind the push to use public-private partnerships to build new infrastructure, like toll roads and prisons
Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin insulted environmental activist Greta Thunberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, saying she should study economics. Although I’m no economist, it seems to me that the cost of intensified earthquakes, hurricanes, rising seas, and the health risks associated with extreme climate events far outweighs the profits of the fossil fuel industry. But then, I’m
Bethlehem School Superintendent Joseph Roy spoke candidly about charters and race and expected he had struck a hornets’ nest. He said in a public forum, not for the first time, “that some parents send their kids to charters so they won’t have to go to school with “kids coming from poverty or kids with skin that doesn’t look like theirs.” Roy is among many superintendents, including Allentown’s Th
Gayle Lakin reviews SLAYING GOLIATH at Norm Scott’s EdNotes Online. Lakin is an art teacher in Maryland. Norm Scott reminds us that he gets credit for coining the term “ed deform,” which he did during the era of Michael Bloomberg and Joel Klein in New York City. Lakin begins: No words can possibly convey the degree of spin, erroneous data and persistent support of outright fabrications that becam
The two most distinguished education researchers in the nation are Gene V. Glass and David C. Berliner, both of whom have held the highest positions in their profession and are universally admired for their careful research and long history of defending the highest standards in the research community. Together they wrote an essay-review of my book SLAYING GOLIATH. The review can also be accessed
Apparently, Ed Deformers—themselves richly endowed with millions and millions from billionaires such as the Waltons, the Gates, Broad, Bloomberg, Koch, etc.—have descended to claiming that the Network for Public Education is funded by “Dark Money” and the big, bad teachers’ unions. Evidently they are troubled to have any dissent to their self-serving narrative that only privatization can “save” A
Espinoza v. Montana could turn out to be the pivotal case in the battle over public funding of religious education. Will the Supreme Court rule narrowly or broadly? Will their decision defund public schools so that religious schools may be funded by the state? The oral arguments were conducted yesterday. Randi Weingarten, who is a lawyer, released this statement: For Immediate Release January 22,
Teresa Hanafin summarizes the impeachment proceedings, which should be called a “trial,” but since the Republicans voted in lockstep to allow no evidence and no witnesses, it would be better not to use the word “trial.” Hanafin writes the Fast Forward daily commentary for the Boston Globe. Trump’s impeachment trial on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress continues at 1 p.m., with
The Washington Post editorial board wrote today about the dangerous precedent that the Senate is establishing by refusing to accept any evidence and refusing to have a real trial of the impeachment charges. By doing so, they are truly making the president an emperor or a king, who can do whatever he wants so long as his party controls the Senate. Trump’s desire to be like his friends Putin and Ki
Nancy Bailey, experienced classroom teachers, shares her thoughts about SLAYING GOLIATH in this post. Bailey commends the book for showing that the resistance has a history, and we should remember those who started it. It returns to the start of standardized testing movement, highlighting one of the most famous resistors, Vermont blogger Susan Ohanian. Susan became one of the first voices, and, I
Bill Phillis writes here about State Senator Matt Huffman, who is leading the fight to expand vouchers in Ohio. Phillis contrasts Huffman’s view with the state constitution. The Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in Espinoza v. Montana today, where plaintiffs seek to strike down all prohibitions by states of funding religious schools. Such a decision, encouraged by the Trump administration,
Steven Singer reviews SLAYING GOLIATH in the pages of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. He writes: The whole text is about the community of teachers, parents, students and concerned citizens who’ve been fighting against the corporate interests trying to destroy public education. And let me tell you, it’s like nothing I’ve ever read. This is a history torn from the front page. It’s a continuation of he
Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, God’s new Messiah, offering each the bloom or blight, Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the right, And the choice goes by forever ‘twixt that darkness and that light. James Russell Lowell wrote these words before the Civil War. it is a s
Teresa Hanafin writes in the Boston Globe’s Fast Forward: You have to hand it to Mitch McConnell: He is quite open about his devotional obeisance to Trump. Just look at the TPP he has unveiled (that’s Trump Protection Plan, not Trans-Pacific Partnership) and which the Senate will vote on today: His rules are very different from those in place for the Bill Clinton trial, which he had pledged to fo
Arthur Camins wrote a beautiful review of SLAYING GOLIATH at The Daily Kos. In light of Camins’ experience as an educator and his passion for justice, I am most grateful for his close and sympathetic reading of this book. Until recently, he was Director of the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education at Stevens Institute of Technology. He writes, in this excerpt: Ravitch’s first
The Los Angeles Times published this story of a for-profit film school that made bold promises to students, folded, then sued its former students for not paying their debts. Only two months into pursuing his dream to be a sound engineer, David Gross knew he’d made a mistake. The single father in 2013 signed up at a for-profit college in Burbank that convinced him it was his path to a Hollywood jo
Valerie Strauss, veteran education writer at the Washington Post, interviewed me about my new book SLAYING GOLIATH. Her questions get to the heart of the book. I hope you will read the exchange.
Today is “pub day,” as they say in the trade. I started writing SLAYING GOLIATH in February 2018 as I watched and read news reports about the teachers’ strike in West Virginia. I watched in awe as every school in the state was closed by every superintendent so that teachers were technically not breaking the law that prevents them from striking. I watched in amazement as teachers and support staff
Tomorrow, the United States Supreme Court will hear arguments in a crucial case called Espinoza v. Montana. The goal of the Espinoza plaintiffs is to strike down state laws that prohibit public funding for religious schools. This is a case that could not only erase the line between church and state but could actually compel states to fund religious schools. It would require states to fund religio
Wornie Reed explains why Martin Luther King, Jr., is beloved today, despite the fact that he was reviled during his lifetime. He was a provocateur and a “rabble rouser” when he was alive, but over time the radicalism of his message was washed away (“whitewashed). Wornie Reed is Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at Virginia Tech. Professor Reed writes: Two decades after his assassination
Writing today in the Washington Post, constitutional scholar Laurence H. Tribe refutes the spurious claims that Trump’s lawyers have advanced, notably that Trump can’t be impeached because he didn’t commit a crime. That is, there is no law saying that it is a crime to seek foreign help in getting dirt on one’s political opponent in the next presidential election, so it is not criminal. Professor
In the frontispiece to my new book SLAYING GOLIATH, I quoted four statements that represented different aspects of my book. One of them is a quotation from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that is not well-known. It comes from a speech called “The Drum Major Instinct,” which he delivered in the last spring of his life at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta on February 4, 1968. Dr. King said: “Ever
Blogger and retired D.C. teacher G. F. Brandenburg reminds us that Dr. King was not always popular. White racists in the south and the north hated his advocacy for equal rights for black people. Followers of Malcolm X thought he was weak-kneed. Even supposedly liberal whites thought he went too far when he announced that he would lead a campaign against poverty. When he spoke out against the war
On this day, we remember the life and work of the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is inspiring to read his speeches, and I urge you to do so. Today you will hear politicians praise his legacy even while they betray that same legacy. Dr. King was a champion of the weak and powerless. He fought for the rights and dignity of Black Americans, and he was a champion for all Americans whose basic n
Alan Singer posts here a brilliant speech that he delivered about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr,. the civil rights movement, and Dr. King’s continuing legacy today. He reminds us that the issues that Dr. King addressed are still unresolved: racism, poverty, war, violence. He points out that when Dr.King was assassinated, he was helping low-wage sanitation workers in Memphis to organize a union to im
Trump has tried to divert attention from his impeachment and trial by revving up fears that “religious freedom” is under attack in the nation, and he alone will protect it. This is complete nonsense, but helps to explain why he appointed two new Supreme Court justices who have a history of overturning any efforts to separate church and state or to protect the secular nature of state action. Trump
In thinking back over the past decade, Peter Greene realized that Michelle Rhee was one of its defining figures. For a time, she was everywhere. The media loved her stern and angry visage. She graced the cover of TIME and NEWSWEEK. She appeared on the Oprah show, NBC’s Education Nation, “Waiting for Superman.” And then she was gone. For years, she was the face of the “reform” movement, a crusader
Ed Johnson, the conscience of education in Atlanta, fears that the school board is determined to unearth another Disrupter as its next superintendent. He does not like the generic survey created by the professional search firm. He offers a different example of the right way to find a worthy superintendent. He writes: Cita Cook: Suggestions for Hiring Next Atlanta Superintendent Atlanta Board of E
Piet van Lier of Policy Matters Ohio has some proposals to “fix” Ohio’s disastrous voucher program. The voucher program–called EdChoice–was recently amended to make 2/3 of the districts in the state liable to pay for vouchers for private and religious schools, many (or most) of which are not as good as the public schools. In addition, students who never attended a public school can apply for a vo
When I read Gary Rubinstein’s review of SLAYING GOLIATH: THE PASSIONATE RESISTANCE TO PRIVATIZATION AND THE FIGHT TO SAVE AMERICA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS, it literally took my breath away. Gary read the book with care. I can’t summarize what he said. Please read what he wrote. I can only say that I have long admired his candor, his fearless integrity, and his insistence on accuracy. To get praise from s
State auditors are questioning whether two charter schools in Broward County had any students at all and are proposing that the schools repay the state $5.5 million. Two charter schools in Broward County failed to adequately prove students attended during the 2017-18 school year and should repay a combined $5.5 million, the state Auditor General report says. The report, released in late December,
Samuel Abrams is the leading national authority on the history of Chris Whittle and the Edison Project. His book Education and the Commercial Mindset recounts the story of the Edison Project, its highs, its lows, its shape shifting. Abrams was a teacher in a public high school in Manhattan until he earned his doctorate. Now he is director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization at T
Make no mistake: The Trump administration is at war against science. It has stripped science advisors out of every agency, making sure that the federal government doesn’t make decisions based on evidence. A note to science teachers: Read the following articles and remember that it is on you to build respect for science and for evidence alive for future generations. Alan Singer details a long list
[contact-form]North Carolina has critical needs that the state’s General Assembly has made worse. A court decision—called Leandro—requires the state to improve its schools. One of its recommendations is to: provide a qualified and well-prepared, and diverse teaching staff in every school. Working conditions and staffing structures should enable all staff members to do their job effectively and gr
This post by Peter Greene appeared in Forbes, where he is now a regular contributor, explaining the real world of education to non-educators. It is Greene’s perceptive review of SLAYING GOLIATH, which will be officially
